Real Madrid Contacts McTominay Amid Renewal Stall

Good evening, Napoli supporters, this is Napoli Tonight for Friday 9 October.

Eight days. That's how long Scott McTominay's renewal talks have gone without agreement, and today Real Madrid decided silence was their opening. The Spanish club have made direct contact with the Scotland midfielder's representatives, right as talks at Castel Volturno sit stalled. The sticking point is money: McTominay wants around nine million euros a season, more than the club wants to pay, and his price has now been set at seventy million euros. Giovanni Manna must choose: block any move in January, or risk losing him for nothing next summer. Oddly, McTominay passed his own fitness test yesterday and could still be rested against Frosinone, protecting him for Villarreal-Napoli in the Champions League next Tuesday.

Here's what worries us more than the fee. McTominay is not an isolated case. Anguissa's renewal is stuck too, over a six million euro request the club also calls too high, and De Bruyne could simply walk for free at the end of the season. Three midfielders, one exit door, and no sign yet of a replacement plan to match. That is the real story behind today's headline, not just one player's price tag.

Napoli sit ninth with seven points from five games, and tomorrow's round gives a sense of how far off the pace that really is. Roma lead on thirteen points and travel to Como; Lazio, level with them, can go top alone by beating Monza. Cagliari and Juventus meet directly for the places above Napoli.

Saturday brings Frosinone to the Maradona, kick-off twenty forty-five CET, nineteen forty-five UK time. Good news for the visitors: striker Antonio Raimondo passed his fitness test on an Achilles problem and is in Alvini's squad, with four goals in five league games this season. An orange weather alert shut the Maradona's athletics track for a day, but the match goes ahead as planned, with only light rain expected.

That's Napoli Tonight for tonight. Every story, in full, at arenarete dot com slash napoli slash e n. Back tomorrow evening at eight o'clock CET.